Authors note: Maybe I can make a habit of doing these on time for once! There's actually only two more of these left, which was two more than I planned on, but then I got more ideas. I'll save the "I hope you liked these" note for the last one, though. But, I hope you like this one!

Thanks, once again, to thebookhobbit!

Picture: John sitting on a stool in their front yard, with a 'why me' expression on his face, the infamous 'happy birthday' hat in the shape of a cake crammed on his head. Matthew is on a unicycle, with his bagpipes, clearly playing while riding around him in circles. It's his sixteenth birthday.

His mother had invited pretty much everyone he considered his friends and he didn't know why… granted, the number of people that he considered his friends (or even talked to, really) was shockingly low compared to most boys his age. John was all for birthday celebrations, even parties… unless it was his own birthday, and then he wanted it to be kept quiet as possible. Dinner at home with his family, and Alex and Evelyn too… maybe, if they weren't busy. But if they had homework then they should do that.

"John, it's your own birthday party, you should at least look like you're excited!" Alex had his hands on John's shoulders, steering him around the yard and making sure that he greeted and spoke with everyone.

"And I'm happy that everyone's here… really… it's just that this seems too public."

"John, we're in your front yard."

"The cows haven't been in the back pasture in a while…"

"John, your house is almost thirty minutes from town."

"…" John sighed; he couldn't refute that.

One thing that he could make a comment on, however, was that he had every right to not like his own birthday parties when his siblings seemed to have made it their goal in life to embarrass him in as many public situations as possible. He voiced this to Alex, who, of course, had a response:

"Hey, siblings doing that to each other is normal."

"You're an only child!"

"I've got ten cousins."

Eh, point. And then John spotted the crown jewel of his argument. "But most siblings aren't THAT."

He pointed, subtly, at his oldest brother, Matthew, who had made the drive from Sydney, and was calmly talking with Sister Karla and Father Issacs, which was in itself normal. What wasn't normal however, was the kilt he was wearing.

"… good luck with that." Alex patted his shoulder consolingly.

John braced himself for the worst. If Matthew was wearing his kilt, that never meant anything good, and was usually a prelude to something extremely embarrassing. For John, anyway. Matthew never got embarrassed by anything. Ever.

It went well, and John was starting to hope that the kilt was just something to throw him off… up until his mom brought out the birthday cake. And Luke brought out a stool from the kitchen, and the infamous cake birthday hat that had been such a long tradition. The hat was starting to look a bit battered, but John knew there was no hope that his mom would retire it anytime soon.

"Okay, John, come on!" Luke crammed the hat on his head as John walked over, blushing bright red from both the heat and the constant 'why, why did mom have to invite everyone?!' running through his head. He clambered up onto the stool, and hoped that this wouldn't be too bad.

It was in that moment, then, that John realized that Matthew was nowhere to be found… which was bad. Very, very, bad. And that was when he heard them… the very thing that the kilt was a prelude for, and what John had foolishly hoped that Matthew had stopped playing years ago… the pipes. The "brrrrraaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrr" sound of him first breathing air to fill up the bag, and Matthew was only getting closer from the sound of it.

Most of the group assembled in front of him started to laugh wildly, and John turned his head in the direction they were looking. His eyes widened as he took in the sight and realized that nothing could have prepared him for this:

Matthew was indeed playing the pipes, in his kilt… but he was also riding a unicycle. He rode calmly toward John, and switched to playing the "happy birthday" song as he got closer.

John knew he was blushing up to his ears as Matthew rode in circles around him, with everyone laughing at how utterly ridiculous this all was. John knew that there was nothing he could do but wait it out and hope that everyone would forget about this in a year.

From the way that his mom was taking pictures… that wasn't likely.

Why did turning sixteen have to be a big deal, again?!